Ice cream Sundae!

If you know me at all, it will not surprise you to know that our week is topped off with an ice cream sundae. In fact, I do believe that my appointing a different activity to each day began with the need for some excuse to have ice cream at least once a week. I spent years working at Haagen Dazs as a teenager and in college and then more years, in the late 80's when frozen yogurt was hitting the scene, working at Yogurt Oasis - the favorite hangout for college students in Tempe, Arizona. Even when I was floating around the world on a ship for a semester, two shipmates and I spent hours daydreaming about finally being reunited with Ben and Jerry. I know ice cream!

So every Sunday night we break out all the works and create our sundaes. Ice cream, hot sauce, sprinkles, whip cream, and topped off with a cherry. Oooohhh, sometimes there are variations. If we bake brownies during the weekend, they become brownie sundaes; a delivery of Girl Scout Cookies means a special think mint cookie topping for the house; Christmas time 'tis the season for snowman sundaes; and when feeling like especially responsible parents we throw on some fruit such as strawberries or bannnas.

Ice Cream Sundae is made more special because of the bowls we use. Our close, close friends from Georgia know of our love for ice cream and six years ago presented us with personalized bowls for each family member. At that time it meant three bowls - one for me, one for Richard, and one for Ricky. Two years later a matching bowl showed up with Matthew's name on it, and this past Christmas a final bowl was added to the collection for Jack... and I do mean THE FINAL BOWL.

Tonight we have a visitor flying into town from Kentucky. Maybe we'll celebrate with Derby Pie Sundaes - pecans, carmel, chocolate, and... bourbon!

Fun in a Box Friday!

Nothing says weekend like Fun in a Box Friday. When my two sisters and I were growing up, Friday's nights seemed picture perfect. We ate spaghetti and meatballs for dinner (considered a real family treat), snuggled in sleeping bags in front of our of our 10"x10" (yes, I mean inch not foot) black and white t.v. and watched the Brady Bunch and Partridge Family, back to back, during Prime Time. That seemed like heaven. Ann, Ellen, and I would start acting crazy the moment we got home from school, in anticipation of the fun awaiting us that evening. My mother even developed a diagnosis. She called it the "Friday Night Crazies."



At our house we celebrate many Friday's with our Fun-In-A-Box box. It's filled with slips of paper, each revealing a different fun activity submitted by someone in the family. Examples include things such as bowling, watch a movie, eat dessert under a tent, shop in the $1 bin at Target, play a game, make smores, sleep in sleeping bags, play frisbee, and do a craft (guess who wrote that one?!). We are also sure to submit festivals, carnivals, and other attractions listed in the newspaper, as they appear. We rotate who the lucky family member is that gets to draw the weekly activity. Once randomly selected, we're off for an evening of fun.

Notes about why this works... First, we don't try to do it every week. Impossible. Between school obligations, birthday parties, and other life events, we would never be able to sustain it every week all year. Instead, I slip a note in their lunch bag or cereal bowl announcing that today is a "Fun in a Box Friday." Then they have the day to anticipate the fun that awaits. Second, the selections are a range from simple (dessert in a tent or game night) to the more elaborate (do a craft or attend a festival). Third, we set a dollar limit ($10.00) on the submissions they are allowed to make. That way it's less about money and more about doing a fun activity together. My husband and I are the ones who submit the more costly activities (bowling or a festival).

Grown-up version...

Let's face it... Fun-in-a-Box-Friday could work for you and a group of friends, you and your boyfriend or girlfriend, or you and your office mates. Wouldn't Friday's in the office be more fun if there was a box from which you drew a random, but fun activity, in which everyone participated?! Heck yes.

But, that's not my adult version for the day. No, we will call the grown-up version... Free For All Friday. The purpose behind this is to have you - my loyal blog readers - submit questions, challenges, consultations or requests for a creative solution to something you have on your mind. It could be how to organize something in your house, a gift idea, an idea for a party favor, or holiday celebration. You name it. The real beauty behind this is that I will post my attempt at an answer and then each of you can take a crack at it by posting your response. That way, the person posing the question receives the benefit of our collective creativity.

I ran this idea past a loyal confidante of mine and she immediately posed a challenge. So here we go... week one and we are already in business. She is looking for an inexpensive party favor ($1-$3/per favor) that she can present to each of the six boys on her son's soccer team at the conclusion of soccer season. She wants it to be something they are likely to hold onto for longer than it takes to get from the field to the car. The boys range in age from 5-6.

Hmmm... whistles?... no, the other soccer mom's would kill her. Soccer ball cookies wrapped in cellophane (everything looks better wrapped in cellophane - a topic we'll talk about later) and sitting on top of AstroTurf? I like the idea, but will she think it won't last long enough? Soccer ball hats (sold at party supply stores) with a fun note that says, "Hats off to you!"? Is a hat anti climatic for a 5 year old boy? Oooohhh... but the idea improves if she brings Sharpie markers and lets each of the boys sign one another's hats, including their team number. I still like the idea of somehow using AstroTurf. I'll keep pondering, but now you give it a try....

Signing off until tomorrow, ____________ Saturday.

One, Two, Three...Cheese!

I’ve spoken to creative friends and relatives of mine all over the map and together we have concluded that a way to measure your “fun factor” is by the number of times you have been asked to host Flat Stanley. I would have to say, I am moderately fun. I certainly haven’t been asked to host hundreds of these fellows, but I’ve hosted enough to be able to provide you with this fun idea…

Elementary kids all over the country (usually around the second grade) are challenged to send a Flat Stanley to friends and family around the globe who, in turn, escort and photograph Stanley on adventures - then passing him along to someone else with a comparably high “fun factor.” I personally have been responsible for getting Flat Stanley’s to places such as Arizona, Time Square, between the hedges at the University of Georgia, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, the farm fields of Iowa, and more.

If the idea is this contagious in a classroom setting, imagine how much it can be for you and your family or you and your friends. Find a fun family heirloom, a favorite stuffed animal, a t-shirt with some nostalgia, or anything else easy to pack. Next time you go on a vacation, or just embark on an outing in town, bring it along with you. Snap a family picture somehow showcasing the item. Imagine the lifetime of fun and challenge you could have filling a family photo album with pictures of your family mascot on a countless number of adventures. A bonus to this idea is it can persist long after your kids have left the house - for wherever they go, there’s a photo to be had!

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

If I've noticed anything over time it is that creative people find one another... and in many cases help bring your creativity to a whole new level. Today's blog is compliments of my dear friend from Pennsylvania.

Nineteen years ago, while in graduate school, I started hosting an annual Random Acts of Kindness packaging party. It served two purposes. First, it was a great way for me to reconnect with friends who, because of the rigors of graduate school, I fell out of touch with. Second, it allowed me to share my obsession with mail - hoping in the process I might find some unsuspecting girlfriends who would keep me company.

I love sending packages. When other people are building their wardrobes and shoe selections, I am buying printed tissue paper, stickers, foam shapes, hole puches, crinkle of every color, sharpie markers, cool notecards, and above all CLEAN, NEW, WHITE BOXES! I have a collection that probably verges on excessive. What goes in the packages that I send is far less important than the cool packaging and thoughtful note surrounding the treat.

So what exactly is a Random Acts of Kindness Party? Once a year (usually two weeks before Halloween) I invite 10-12 women to my house (it can almost be more fun if the gathering of women is eclectic and don't already know each other). Their task is to bring to the packaging party two things - addresses for 3-4 people to whom they want to send a pick-me-up and a set of twelve small items that can be packaged in a box about 7x5x4 in size (bigger than that can be expensive to mail). Items are typically things such as fun packages of baked goods, bookmarks, candles, recipe cards, small picture frames, soaps, holiday socks, keychains, handmade braclets, etc.... All the items brought by your guests are placed on a community table from which they can shop around for the perfect combination of goodies to send the recipients of their packages.

My contribution is all the packaging supplies necessary to turn your package from simply being thoughtful to being the talk of the postoffice. Lucky party goers move from table to table selecting fun treats to mail to long lost friends, a neighbor needing a pick me up, an old boss or mentor, an aunt or uncle you rarely see, or someone else who is on your mind. Once the treats are selected, participants move to the boxing stations (usually set up all over the kitchen, living room, dining room). Here they select colorful tissue paper, crinkle, ribbons, and most importantly a notecard.

Before the packages are taped shut, one more small task! Placed inside each package is a small note reading "Catch the spirit, do a random act of kindness." This will often times spark a packaging party in another city (to which every once in a while, you might actually recieve and unexpected random act of kindness in the mail). Finally, the packages are wrapped, sealed, addressed, and then decorated on the outside with stickers and markers. This is why it is essential that the boxes are pristine, white boxes that have never been used (not even the pre-printed ones purchased at Target or the post office). I get mine from the Container Store, but if you don't have one near you, you can either order on-line or visit an office supply store like Staples or Office Depot (brown can work in a pinch, but markers are definately more vibrant on a white box).

Wanna do one? Either wait until September when I start planning my annual October party (and talking about it on my blog) or jump right in create your own occassion... St. Patrick's Day, spring break, or first day of summer could be examples.

The great pics are from my good friend's Random Acts of Kindness Party: Valentines Day! I was, in fact, the lucky recipient of a package - the fun contents of which you will have to wait until next Valentine's Day to discover! It, afterall, sparked a whole new fun and creative idea.

Signing off for the day....